


Hold Fast

by bluspirits



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Insecurity, Pre-Relationship, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28583568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluspirits/pseuds/bluspirits
Summary: Fjord considers a tattoo. With Jester's expert help, of course.
Relationships: Fjord/Jester Lavorre
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	Hold Fast

**Author's Note:**

> So I got very invested in the idea of Fjord having a bunch of Sailor Jerry style tattoos, and Jester likes to tattoo people, and Fjord and Jester are super cute, and this just happened! This takes place at some ambiguous time during the sailing to Traveler-Con. 
> 
> Tattoos Fjord has: the words 'Hold Fast', a rope knot, both for good luck (on the arms). An anchor, for crossing the Lucidian (on the bicep). Two swallows, for 10,000 nautical miles sailed (on the chest). A nautical star, for coming home (on the bicep). A jellyfish, for sailing the Swavain islands. (on his back)
> 
> http://thescuttlefish.com/2011/12/a-visual-guide-to-sailor-tattoos-a-scuttlefish-and-bowsprite-creation/
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy it!

"Orly said he'd come down in like about an hour, if you still need to talk to him about whatever," Jester calls, stepping into Fjord's room, clutching her tattooing tools.

"But if you wanted to talk about magic tattoos, and it's really urgent, I brought all my stuff, cause you know I'm great at them too-" she stops, cut off by the sight in front of her. Fjord is sitting with his shirt off in a chair on one side of the room, eyes closed like he's meditating. He opens his eyes at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, Jester! No, that's fine, I can wait."

Jester doesn't answer, too stuck looking at him. Fjord isn't the strongest member of their group, but he is solid, steady, with a bulk that hints at his years working on the deck of a ship, hauling, carrying, and climbing. His skin is dappled in different shades of green, from dark pine to bright moss. Jester might be staring just a little bit. In that not at all staring, she notices some things she hasn't before. Cause, like, she's definitely noticed that Fjord is the kind of large but juuust soft enough to look like he'd give amazing hugs, and that he's like every single green she's ever painted, ever loved, from the Traveler's cloak to the leaves on the trees outside her bedroom. 

But the tattoos? The tattoos she hadn't noticed. 

Okay, that's a little bit of a lie. She had seen them a bit- a hint of words on his knuckles, maybe a star peeking out from his shirt after a fight when he's taken his armor off and Caduceus is healing him. But Fjord wears so much armor (and maybe she wishes he didn't sometimes even though that wouldn't be very safe, but she would do some healing if it meant she got to see him with his shirt off more often) that she hasn't ever seen them very clearly. Plus he's never been too comfortable showing off his body to the group, meaning glances of his bare skin were rare and precious. The glimpses she's gotten never stuck in her mind and she is so mad at her past self for that.

From where Fjord sits right now, shirt off, she can see six tattoos. Anchors, words, rope, stars, and birds, marked across his upper body.

The ink is dark blue against his skin, maybe just a shade darker than she'd imagine her hands might look like against his back. 

"What are all of thooose?" She asks, pointing and leaning forward. 

Fjord looks up and smiles just a little and she feels warm inside. The smile shows more of his tusks and she thinks how her staring at his body would have made him so uncomfortable, so anxious, before and she feels warmer. She thinks maybe he's still a little nervous, but that might also be the needles she's holding.

"They're tattoos, Jester. Thought you knew all about those." He waves a hand at her, either at her own tattoo, or at the tools she's carrying. 

"Well, yeah, obviously I'm an expert," she rolls her eyes just a little, "but I've never seen those ones before."

He drops his gaze, turning away and staring at the floor, like he's just noticed that she's looking at him. "They're, uh, sailor's tattoos. It's traditional on a lot of ships. Like, uh, the ones I sailed on, I guess."

"That's what you were looking for Orly for!" She claps her hands together, grinning. "You want another tattoo!"

"I don't-" Fjord holds up a hand. "I don't know if I want another tattoo. That's what I want to talk to him about, I guess."

"Whether to get one?" Jester frowns. Who wouldn't want a cool magical tattoo?

"Yeah. I, uh, I was never exactly the one in the crew who was into all of this stuff. I kind of went along with it cause it was expected." He shuts his mouth, denying her his smile, and any more view of his tusks.

"You went along with six tattoos?" she asks, a little bit of disbelief in her voice. 

Fjord laughed nervously. "Seven, actually."

She gasps. "Where's the seventh? Somewhere secreeet?"

He smiles. "It's on my back." 

"Oh." That's not as exciting as she'd been hoping.

He spots her slight disappointment and spins around, giving her a view of the broad expanse of his back. On his right shoulder blade is a jellyfish, several inches long, curling and beautiful in the same dark blue as all of the other tattoos. She reaches out for a split second before dropping her hand, as if it would sting her. 

"What would you get?" She asks, instead of touching the art on the emerald sea of his back. "If Orly talks you into it?"

"All these have meanings, like where you've sailed and stuff. We've done so much on the sea recently I was thinking about getting another for those milestones." He turns around and shakes his head. "It feels different getting one for myself. For things I've done with the Nein."

"What do the ones you've got mean?" Jester asks, both curious and not sure how to answer him. She sits down on the ground, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Fjord runs a hand through his hair. He then holds both of his hands out, closed in fists. Across his knuckles are the words 'hold fast'. 

"For luck. And a good grasp on the rigging," he says, unclenching his fists and flexing his hands. 

"Does it work?" If it does, then she should see about getting Marius some of his own. it might save her some spells healing his nastier falls.

Fjord shrugs. "I don't know. I've never fallen or anything, so I guess it has so far." 

"Or maybe you're just strong," she says with a grin. 

"Yeah, yeah, maybe." He nods, smiling just a little. 

"What about the rest?" 

He closes his eyes for a moment, then points to the star on the inside of his bicep. "This was the first one I got. Vandran took me. He said it made me a real sailor, a real part of the crew. Also told me I'd better not need anyone to hold my hand through it." He smiles, somewhere between fond and bitter. 

She doesn't ask whether he had needed a hand to hold or not. "What does it mean?" 

"It's supposed to guide me home." 

"What about that one?" She pokes the anchor inked onto his other bicep. 

He lightly swats at her hand, smiling again. "That one is for crossing the Lucidian. Sabian and I got this one together, after our first trip to Tal'Dorei."

Jester blinks, leaning back. She doesn't take her hand off his arm though. He hasn't said anything, so she's going to just stay there as long as she can get away with. "I didn't know you'd been to Tal'Dorei! Why didn't you tell us?" 

She gasps and slaps at his arm. "Do you know who's on the council?" 

Fjord laughs. "I've been to a bunch of different docks, not any of the tourist sites or anything." 

He taps the two swallows on either side of his chest, just under the collarbone, facing each other as if they're passing by on their opposite journeys. "These each represent 5,000 nautical miles sailed." 

"That's a lot of miles."

"It felt like a lot of miles." He thinks for a second. "I haven't been keeping track too hard, but maybe someday all of the Nein will earn one of these." 

Jester thinks about a little swallow, maybe with green tipped feathers, a part of her, and smiles. 

She sits up straighter. "Oh, and the jellyfish, what's that one? Does it protect against getting stung? Does it mean you won a fight with one?"

Fjord laughs. "It means I've sailed in the Swavain Islands."

"Hey!" Jester threw her hands up, dropping the needles and other tools she still clutched in one hand. "I've sailed there! We all have!" 

"Then you could get a jellyfish like this one."

"Matching tattoos, Fjord?" She wiggles her eyebrows and grins.

"Well, uh, the whole Nein could get them too," he stumbles, flushing just a little.

Jester narrows her eyes and grins. "Mmhmmm."

"I don't know if it goes with my-" she touches the diamond inked hands that flow across her collarbone, and the doorway clasped at the center of her chest, "you know."

Fjord stares down at the silvery, shimmering tattoo. "You don't think a little jellyfish right there in the center would look good?"

"I think the Traveler would love that," she laughs. 

"Open your heart to jellyfish," Fjord says, snorting. She giggles. 

When the laughter has stopped, she rests her chin in her hands and gazes up at Fjord again, jellyfish and swallows and other tattoo plans dancing through her head. "So what are you thinking about getting now?"

He points to the rope around his wrist. It curls into a loose knot above the back of his hand. "This one means I've been a deckhand. I was thinking about now that I'm a captain, getting one for that." 

"Ooooooh, what's the captain one? Something super cool?" 

"A fully rigged ship," he says. "I thought maybe on the opposite forearm."

She reaches out and grasps his wrist, without thinking. He lets her. She turns it over to inspect his arm. 

"I think it would look good," she says, meeting his eyes. 

"I- thank you, Jester. That means a lot. Might actually encourage me to get the thing," he starts off soft and honest, and finishes with an awkward laugh. Jester meets him with a gentle smile. 

She lets the moment rest for a second, before rushing on, both out of curiosity, and a desperate need to make Fjord smile for real. "Does the Captain Tusktooth symbol count as like, one of these, do you think?" 

Fjord laughs, open and honest, and she feels like she's standing on the beach in Nicodranas, toes in the sand, ocean ahead of her. He pauses, thinking for a second. "Um, I guess it does. Sailing related, given to a bunch of people, special meaning. Yeah, you've already got it down, huh?"

"I told you I was great at this!" She claps her hands. "I could give you your new tattoo, Captain Tusktooth!" 

"Oh, uh, I'm not sure I'm even gonna get a new one." 

"I think you should." She takes his hand. "I think it would look wonderful. They all look wonderful." 

He takes a deep, shuddering breath, fighting the urge to fold in on himself and hide, she thinks. He's so strong sometimes, she notices, as he remains steady and exposed to her. And a good liar too, though she hopes he isn't faking right now, that he actually feels comfortable. 

She reaches out and takes his hands, thumbs brushing against the words, 'hold fast'. And she does, she holds fast to his hands as she whispers to him. "And if you don't get it, you'll look good too, cause you always look good. And you'll still be our captain, cause you're our captain because of you, not cause of a ship on your arm."

She resists the urge to kiss him, and stands, picking up her needles. She thinks he might want to kiss her too, or at least she hopes, but she doesn't know, so she'll wait for him.

She stops at the door. "And I'm free if you ever want a tattoo, you know."

"I'll keep that in mind, Jester." 

**Author's Note:**

> This may have turned lecture-y, as I got caught up in the different tattoo meanings. Minor edits were made to meanings, like swapping Atlantic for Lucidian. The fully rigged ship is typically for sailing around Cape Horn, but I switched it to captain's rank. The jellyfish is also a complete invention.
> 
> I also originally meant for this to be a story about Jester tattooing Fjord, but it went a different direction. I may write a sequel where she actually gets to put some ink on Fjord (maybe him getting some tattoos for sailing in Eiselcross too?? I've come up with some potential tattoos for the frozen depths that I'm excited about), and where they actually get to kiss! Thank you for reading!!


End file.
